Internationally renowned ceramics brand Mud is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary with the opening of a new store in Islington, expanding its London business and connecting with local designers and creatives. Unveiling its new store on Upper Street, amongst a vibrant collection of luxury shops and dining experiences, Mud hopes to integrate seamlessly into the community, bringing its love of minimalist and high-quality ceramics to a new audience.
Mud turns 30
A celebration touting cake, champagne, and a few famous faces, the store opened on 10 October, and captures the understated and finely crafted aesthetic that makes Mud’s products so identifiable. This has been harnessed through the work of Melbourne-based practice Design Office, who work on the design and fit out for every Mud store globally.
Using the brand’s signature custom joinery, Vitsoe 606 Universal Shelving and Barber Osgerby Home Tables, the clean and refined interiors feature a sensitive colour palette that draws attention to the ceramics on display. Amidst a wash of gorgeous furniture, the real stars of the show are Mud’s own eye-catching pieces, including a range of tableware and a particularly special cake stand from the brand’s past catalogue.
The ‘Mud Australia Cake Stand’ is a subtle nod to celebrating the brand’s history and its love for its favourite materials. As seen across various social media platforms, where friends of the brand have been baking adorable cakes to adorn their stands, the piece will be available in Mud’s most popular colour ‘milk’, at three different heights. Only one hundred stands have been made as part of a limited anniversary run and will be available at the Islington shop.
Starting as a boutique ceramics project run by founder Shelley Simpson alone, Mud has grown to operate twelve stores across three continents, selling handcrafted products shipped from their production facilities in Australia around the globe. Naturally, this has also led to the expansion of its team and the variety of people who work with Shelley to run the brand and help it grow, and it’s this emphasis on building lasting working relationships that remains a core tenant of the business.
Likewise with the new Islington store, Shelley’s commitment remains to the founding of communities and the excitement of growing her team. As she explains: 'The reason we opened stores in London was so that we could visit people that we loved on the other side of the world… and of course London is one of the design capitals of the world.'
However, Islington itself maintains a special place in Shelley’s heart. Connecting with friends and family in the area, its local community of artists, designers, and supportive environment for boutique businesses, the process of finding and developing the new store within Upper Street’s historic shopfront fell quickly into place, aided by a generous landlord, exceptional builders, and a packed shop floor on opening night. 'Islington specifically… it’s about community, it’s about creative people, people with design backgrounds… it just makes sense.'
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